okay, so im an idiot and bought a Dell XPS M1330 when it first came out. Actually my uncle bought it but that's besides the point.
1.5gh intel duo
2gb ram
160 hdd 7200rpm
nvidia 8600gs or something
and vista home premium

not only does this thing freeze on my once a day when im doing casual stuff, but when i try to play games, it freezes EVERY game or shuts off. ive gotten the blue screen of death several times for hardware stuff but ive been careful with it. so seeing as i didnt pay for it, im going to convince my mom to get me a new laptop and give my current one to my brother.

Laptops are always a hard buy, but here's what i need mine to do, and yes, im aware it will be expensive.
Play games smoothly (very smoothly preferably)
15.4inch
4gbram
blu-ray read and write
if it comes with vista, im going to get like a 320GB HDD 7200rpm and partition it into ubuntu and XP Pro
i do a lot of programming and am starting game design so i need good graphics. portability and battery life. alienware has some good laptops but their battery life and portability is pretty ****. are there any other options? i have never had any experience with sony vaios, but i customized one for pretty cheap and it was very decent, but idk how good they are. please, im dying with this dell and vista, and i tried to partition to XP but i got blue screen of death hardware problem. helppp please

The best current 15.4" laptop is ALIENWARE M15x which is equipped with Nvidia Geforce 8800MGTX

has anyone heard anything on the sony vaio fz series?...theyre pretty cheap and more portable than alienwares. any thoughts?

You said u need a good GPU and they have the Nvidia 8400 which isn't very good for gaming

If you want gaming, and you want 15", you want an M15x with an 8800m (you can sacrifice a bit on the CPU, but don't go below this for GPU).

err, the only game i will be playing is warcraft 3 and that will be verrrry on and off. but i do want to get into game design and stuff so maybe its safer to stay with the alienware?...does anyone know if it runs cool/hot and what the battery life is?

i also heard that the m15x isnt too reliable right now seeing that its had 2 bios patches and stuff. does anyone have one that can attest for it?

well it has some problems but its getting better
if u dont want to do heavy gaming, then go for SAGER NP2092, it has a 8600MGT which is a good card

There's a few Asus units out there equipped with 15.4" screens and 8600MGTs.

Prostar is where i got my gaming notebook and i have had very good experience with it.

http://www.pro-star.com/

My specs for my note book are

17" SAGER NP 9262

E6850
4gigs of PC2 6400
2x GeForce 7950GTX SLI
250gig WD7200 HD

Whats nice about this sager is you can UPGRADE!!!!!!!! so if i want to go with Vista and the 8800M GTX I can. Anyway I love my portable "PC" LOL. Shes a beast but it suits my needs when I travel to my in-laws.

BTW I love your name ( ihateibuypower ) I know someone who has had a nightmarish experience with them.

yeah i think nightmare-ish problems would be an understatement. they cheated the light on the paint jobs and had a loose cable to the screen in every laptop. not to mention theyre gaming laptops and you cant game without them overheating and shutting off. they make me want to /wrists. anyways, what about the new dell studio laptops?--that is, once they really get out there and they fix problems.

perhaps the asus m51sn?

If you have the money go with SAGER NP 9262 its a beast!

I was going to say NP9262 but he said he needs a 15.4" Laptop

The Studio series looks pretty nice - for moderate gaming, you want a Geforce 8600 or Mobility Radeon 3650.

Agreed^^ HD 3650 is good for moderate gaming